The General Services Administration is months
away from releasing details of its
newest contract vehicle that will allow
agencies
to find professional services
solutions across disciplines. OASIS program
manager Jim Ghiloni gave a status update on the
contract.
June 26, 2012(Encore presentation July 10, 2012)

The Homeland Security Department is taking a
two-pronged approach to protecting the federal
supply chain. The first addresses the DHS
mission cargo crossing into the U.S. The second
is an interagency effort to ensure the
government is working together on
investigations. DHS said seizures of
counterfeit goods at the border increased by 20
percent in 2011.

The White House, Congress, DoD and many others
are trying to stem the tide of counterfeit
products and software with malicious code from
entering federal systems. The administration
soon will release recommendations for how all
agencies and vendors can improve the security
of their products. DoD issued a memo in March
requiring changes to how services protect their
supply chains.

Joe Jordan has led the Office of Federal
Procurement Policy for a little more than two
weeks. But he's wasting no time setting
priorities. Jordan spoke to In Depth with
Francis Rose as part of Federal News Radio's
week-long special report, Inside the World's
Biggest Buyer.

Rules and regulations are supposed to help the government make the smartest, fairest purchases are often complex. For Bill Woods, director of Acquisition and Sourcing Management Issues at the Government Accountability Office, federal procurement rules are a full-time pursuit.

Rep. James Lankford (R-Okla.) said the
acquisition workforce is most important to
improving how the government buys goods and
services. He said with 55 percent of the current
workforce eligible to retire by 2018, agencies
and Congress have to work together to figure out
how best to train and equip these employees to
be
successful.

The two influential senators say the mistakes
the Defense Department and others made in the
1990s during the
last serious budget reductions can't be
repeated this time around. Sen. Joseph
Lieberman (I-Conn.) said budget cuts shouldn't
be
balanced on the backs of the acquisition
workforce. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) added
reductions
in acquisition staff mean the government will
pay more for goods and services.

Tighter budgets and the threat of sequestration have not discouraged the Defense Department from increasing the size of its acquisition workforce, officials said. DoD is adding 20,000 employees to buy more efficiently.

At the heart of solid federal acquisition lies a
well-trained workforce. National Defense
University's iCollege professors Andy Gravatt and
Russ Mattern share how the
school stays up-to-date on acquisition practices
across government and the recent
changes they've made to the curriculum.